I'd like to hear your experience with Lineage OS

2 months ago by ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace to c/android

Hi there!

I have a Samsung S20 5G. I just got a new job recently and I was trying to set up a professional profile with Microsoft InTune to have Teams, Outlook, Edge, etc. to have access to my messages and intranet on the go. But, I found out my OS was out of date and didn't have the latest security updates, and therefore the professional profile couldn't be completed.

My options are:

Buy a new phone ($$$$$)
Keep the phone and Install LineageOS (MS InTune and professional profile might not work?)

Have any one of you had to create a professional profile on Lineage and succeeded? What has your experience been on Lineage?

By the way, I'm not trying to de-Google my phone. I'm just trying to extend the life of my phone and I read that to create a professional profile or for your banking apps to work, you need to install Google services a certain way when Installing Lineage. Have any of you tried this?

Also, I originally bought this phone (used) because it claimed to have e-sim functionality which is great for travelling. However, the Canadian version of the factory OS disabled that feature. I had to replace it with a U.S. image for the same model and that unlocked it. Will Lineage OS prevent me from using e-sims?

Please let me know your experience.

DigitalPirate 4 points 2 months ago

Honestly I switched to Lineage a few months ago for the same reason, and so long as you install gapps (iirc that's the spelling lol) properly or the microG signed builds (on my device I was able to find the lineageOS build with microG integrated) you shouldnt run into any problems.

I didn't use gapps so my install uses the Aurora client for google play apps, which some apps just won't download at times but generally I've been able to do everything I would reasonably expect a stock android device to do

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 2 points 2 months ago

Nice! Do you have a link for the procedure? I found a couple here:

This one from the official LineageOS page for GApps

And this LineageOS for MicroG fork

But there's also Open GApps

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DigitalPirate 3 points 2 months ago

So here https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ you'd follow whatever steps for your device, but what I did for mine was replace the official OS files with the files from here https://download.lineage.microg.org/.

Edit: I typically wouldn't recommend GApps unless you really, really like deep Google integration. From my understanding GApps basically turns Lineage into stock android but with a newer android ver, while MicroG is faux google that pretends google play services exists for those apps that require it (I don't think there's too many that don't just expect a non-rooted device)

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

Ah interesting!

If I go with MicroG, will I still be able to use Google apps like drive, photos, maps, etc?

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DigitalPirate 2 points 2 months ago

You shouldn't have any issues, no. I've been able to use Google Maps myself since alternatives are garbage, but I don't see any reason the other cloud services wouldn't work

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LaggyKar 3 points 2 months ago

Does your job not provide a work phone? If you need stuff on your phone for work, it would be the employer's responsibility to provide a phone that it works on. Or is it just that you want everything in a single phone?

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

Nope.

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Andres4NY 2 points 2 months ago

@ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace Plenty of others have already answered, so I'll address the esim stuff. LineageOS works fine with esims, *but* support between devices varies. As an example, when I first installed LineageOS 21 on my Oneplus 11 (which I hated and stopped using for reasons unrelated to LineageOS), it didn't support the esim at all. When I reinstalled LineageOS 23 later on (for someone else to use), esim support worked perfectly. You'll want to check the xdg forums for x1s esim support.

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

Ah! Good to know! Thanks for the heads up! :)

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somegeek 2 points 2 months ago

Don't know bakut professional profiles, but have been using Lineage for 3-4 years.

It simply works, is beautifuly simple, it's just right for me.

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Onomatopoeia 1 point 2 months ago

I've been running Lineage (and before that Cyanogen) for 10 years-ish.

It's the same OS just without the bloatware. It doesn't even have Google Services unless you choose to install it.

Just switch, problem solved.

Tell you what, go buy a phone for $500 and solve your problem that way if you just want to argue with people who've been imaging phones since 2010.

I have a solution, but you know, I'm not helping you anymore. You just want to look for why you're stuck, instead of solutions.

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

Just switch, problem solved.

Not quite.

Like I mentioned in my post, I need to install business apps for my job including Teams, Outlook, Edge on a professional encrypted profile. Without Google apps or whatever services, this won't work. Neither will banking apps, I think.

I need MicroG and GApps from what I gathered.

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Onomatopoeia -2 points 2 months ago

You won't know until you switch.

And since Lineage will be a newer version than you're running, and you can put current Google Services on it, you're probably fine.

But yea, just downvote me when I'm trying to help.

Jerk

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 4 points 2 months ago

I'm not the one downvoting btw.

But I think it's important I know if it's going to work beforehand. But as others pointed out, there should be no issue as long as I install MicroG at the very least.

EDIT:

I think you're a victim of some downvoting campaign by some people.

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exdor 1 point 2 months ago

The install docs are extremely barebones, incomplete and unsafe

Also their way of installing is hacky and incompatible with verified boot

IodeOS is significantly better for this use case, although they support less devices. They base off LineageOS but the installer, installation method and the resulting OS are better, more secure and private.

If you consider buying new, a Pixel 10 or 9 with GrapheneOS is still the best.

If not that, maybe CalyxOS is fine currently? I dont expect it to be much better than iodeOS.

Stay away from /e/OS. Be aware that "LineageOS for microG" is a separate distribution and only ships updates every second month.

There is also APXOS which would be better than iodeOS I guess, but limited device support.

RestlessOS is very interesting but I dont know how the kernel is updated. Really worth considering though

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

Be aware that “LineageOS for microG” is a separate distribution and only ships updates every second month.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I think I'll just install MicroG myself instead.

Thanks for all the recommendations. But it looks like LineageOS is the only one that officially supports my model. (Samsung S20 5G) And it looks like it would do the job just fine for my needs.

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exdor 2 points 2 months ago

Well, I tried installing MicroG before and that doesnt just work. You need to flash it as privileged module and put an xml file somewhere to give it elevated permissions.

I found this issue, there seems to be a hole in the docs. The same user also opened another ignored issue that does seem to match my impression of very lacking docs and a low focus on security for microG too...

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

Interesting.

I might just install GApps instead. I really don't care if it turns it into a Googled phone. I already have a Googled phone with the Samsung default OS anyway.

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exdor 2 points 2 months ago

I would generally not recommend running official google apps at all. MicroG works quite well for the things you actually need. I would research on how to flash microG with adb and add the correct elevated privileges.

Or if you need to flash gapps, use this file to only flash the needed apps like playstore and play services and nothing else.

Then afaik you can still disable them on the main profile and only use them in work profile (shelter, island), which would be a big privacy advantage

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bignose 1 point 2 months ago

I've never had a good time with the install instructions. They are okay when the extremely finicky steps work, they are terrible for recovering from a mistake. It's all too easy to get your device into a worse state than you started. This is not something we can blame on the LineageOS project; most hardware manufacturers deliberately make it an awful, risky experience to change the operating system.

Having said that: All my mobile devices were on LineageOS (and earlier names for the same project years ago), and it has been far more stable, far more free from horrible user-hostile behaviours that I see people putting up with on Google-ified devices.

Bear in mind that a lot of the awful stuff is now part of the Google Play layer (the “gapps” bundle), which I strongly recommend you don't install. Installing that allows the creepy, anti-democratic surveillance and lack of user agency that you see in much of the proprietary world. Purge it with fire.

But without that, a lot of proprietary apps will not work properly. Doesn't bother me, I only ever install from F-Droid because I know they build from source, and ensure the source is free software.

(Why “were” on LineageOS? Not from anything wrong with LineageOS. Some of my devices are now on operating systems that don't support as wide a range of devices but are somewhat better suited to the purpose, like GrapheneOS.)

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 1 point 2 months ago

I have my doubts about Graphene OS. Louis Rossman tried to talk to the man behind that OS and he turned out to be a creep. So yeah...

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